Record winners of the world’s biggest competition, Brazil take on a very impressive South Korea side who are also rich in World Cup history in terms of Asian representation at the Mondial.
South Korea, after picking up just a point from their first group game in Group H, faced a huge test in Portugal yet managed to edge over the 1966 third place finishers, Portugal in their final fixture and managed to book a place in the Knock out phase.
For the Selecao, these are hard times as world cup legend Pele struggles with his health and Gabriel Jesus set to miss out on the rest of the tournament. However, Neymar Jr returns from injury to bring hope to the five-time winners and look to lead this talented generation to ultimate glory.
Brazil managed to top Group G after beating Serbia and Switzerland but failed to keep a 100 percent record after they lost to Cameroon who eventually found themselves eliminated.
South Korea who was on the brink of elimination after a 2-3 defeat to Ghana after a draw with Uruguay in their first group game also had a dramatic finish to their group, with a late Hwang Hee-Chang winner against eventual group winners Portugal, booking a place in the last 16 where they are set to face Brazil.
South Korea remains the only Asian country to have reached the semi-finals of the World Cup, when they were co-hosts in 2002. On the other occasion they made it out of the group stage, they lost in the Round of 16 to Uruguay 2-1 in 2010.
The two sides have met seven times previously, but never at a World Cup, with Brazil winning on six occasions, South Korea wining once in a friendly in 1999. Facing each other in a friendly this year in June, Brazil won 5-1.
WHERE AND WHEN?
Where: Stadium 974
Date: 5th December 2022
Time: 7:00 GMT
TEAM NEWS.
BRAZIL.
Sevilla full back Alex Telles as well as Arsenal forward Gabriel Jesus find themselves out due a knee injury and highly unlikely, they could feature again in this tournament.
Also, Alex Sandro is out with a hip injury yet is likely to return soon, Brazil forward Neymar returns to the collective squad training and is likely to feature after missing Brazil’s last two group games.
SOUTH KOREA.
Wolves winger Hwang Hee-chan missed South Korea’s first two World Cup matches due to a hamstring injury and although he hadn’t fully recovered from by the team’s final group game, he featured and scored the winner against Portugal. He remains a doubt to start against Brazil. “It was still a risk for me to play today,” Hwang revealed after the match, “but I don’t care what happens to me physically.”
Kim Min-jae wasn’t risked against Portugal as he continues to nurse a calf problem which the Korean Football Association described as “not a big injury”.
Kim Young-gwon found South Korea’s equalizer against Portugal but is a doubt after limping off in the final ten minutes of Friday’s match.
PRE- MATCH ANALYSIS.
Brazil returns high and mighty as favorites in the knockout phase after their 2018 elimination to eventual 3rd place winners Belgium. A Thibaut Courtois masterclass prevented Neymar’s Brazil from restoring parity and leading to their eventual elimination.
However, Brazil graced this tournament as favorites with massive attacking depth and experience in this squad and have lived up to expectation. They come up against a resilient South Korea side who know how to hurt the opposition on the break with Son Hueng Min leading the attack with Chu Gue- Sung and Eder Militao should be called up by Tite in the starting XI to help the experienced Thiago Silva and Marquinhos at the back.
Neymar’s return means trouble for South Korea as he will look to find Vinicius and Raphinha in wide areas while Richarlison sits in front of the attack to power the five-time winners into the quarter final.
Korea will play a high line and press Brazil high up the pitch inmost parts of the game and need to leave no gaps as Brazil have the press resistant players to play out the back and find Vinicius with one through ball or switch of play.
PREDICTED LINEUPS.
BRAZIL
Alisson, Militao, Silva, Marquinhos, Danilo, Fred, Casemiro, Raphinha, Rodrygo, Vinicius, Richarlison.
KOREA
Kim Seung-gyu, Kim Moon-hwan, Kwon Kyung-wan, Kim Min-jae, Kim Jin-su, Hwang In-beom, Jung Woo-young, Lee Kang-in, Lee Jae-sung, Cho Gue-sung, Son Heung-min.
PLAYER TO WATCH.
Brazil – Vinicius Jr
South Korea – Son Hueng-min
